Chris FrazierHere’s the good news: Eagles Purch is up and running. And here’s the bad news: Degree Works isn’t. The Eagles-Guest is spotty. And there’s hasn’t been an update of the status of the fall flex dollars.
Administrators, staff and faculty were thrilled to hear Tuesday afternoon that the Eagles Purchasing system was operating.
According to Bruce dePyssler, the faculty adviser of the Campus Echo, Eagles Purch is a platform for requisitioning everything and anything needed on campus.
“I was beginning the process of purchasing stuff when the cyberintrusion hit,” dePyssler said. “Eagles Purch is the system we use to buy what we need.”
The return of that application comes a day after it was expected to be missing through the spring semester. According to a Monday morning email sent to staff in the College of Arts and Sciences, Eagles Purch was not likely to return for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in July.
dePyssler said he was worried that the Campus Echo would lose its funds for the remainder of the fiscal year.
“They’re saying we can only make requests if it’s an emergency,” he said. “But what qualifies as a ‘high-priority’ request?”
In the end, Information Technology Services came to the rescue, but it leaves many students to wonder when Eagles-Guest, the campus-wide network, will perform as it should. And when important applications, especially Degree Works, will be up and running. And what’s to become of the fall flex dollars?
After the intrusion, the roll-out of the Wi-Fi network was quick. But for James Rand, an accounting senior, Eagles-Guest is not up to par.
“Before the WiFi went out, it was working perfectly,” Rand said. “Sometimes it works now, sometimes it don’t.”
Kate Clanton, a behavioral and social sciences senior, agreed that Eagles-Guest is unreliable.
“It works when it wants to work, so I don’t really care for it,” Clanton said. “I wish we had something better.”
An application that continues to be greyed out for students is Degree Works, a platform that helps advisers and students monitor their academic progress at NCCU.
Rashaad Daniels, a middle grades education sophomore, says Degree Works informs students of what is needed to graduate.
“You won’t know what you took or what you need to take without it,” he said. “It’s very important.”
Flex also remain a burning issue for students. Flex dollars come with students’ meal plans and are used to make purchases at Central Markets, Provisions, Chick-Fil-A, and other dining services outside of the cafeteria.
After the cyberintrusion unused fall flex dollars were unavailable to students. And students say the dollars should be rolled over to this spring semester, something that is not typically done.
“I think we should get refunded since we weren’t able to use it,” Clanton said. “It is our money at the end of the day.”
Rand also said that it’s not fair that students haven’t received a refund yet.
“It’s what we paid for and we couldn’t use it,” he said.
The Campus Echo has reached out to Eagle Card Services several times for comment but has not yet heard back.
UPDATE: At 12:56 p.m., Jan. 25, the Campus Echo learned that NCCU students were seeing increased balances in their GrubHub accounts, likely reflecting refunds for the fall balances that were dropped. The specifics of the refund amount are unknown. The Campus Echo will attempt to get specifics on the refund from Eagle Card Services.
